A 46-year-old patient was taken to hospital by EMS ambulance after falling down a flight of stairs, prompting an emergency medical evacuation by boat on Wednesday.
The vessel was a motor bulk carrier heading towards Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape.
The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) was dispatched and found that the patient was having difficulty breathing.
The patient is now under the care of doctors and nurses in the Intensive Care Unit.
NSRI spokesperson, Craig Lambinon says, “While responding towards the casualty ship, and now in direct communications with the ship, NSRI learned that the patient had fallen six metres down a flight of stairs, at 11h30, landing on a hard surface, sustaining multiple life-threatening injuries, and while he had initially stopped breathing the ships medical crew had restored spontaneous breathing to the patient in resuscitation efforts. The ship’s Captain had immediately raised the alarm. The ship’s medical crew were fighting to save his life and they had not moved him, treating him where he had landed.”
